


Letters from the Sky

by sporadic_obsession



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Adlers Vs. Jackals match, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Oblivious Hinata Shouyou, POV Hinata Shouyou, Pro Volleyball Player Hinata Shouyou, Pro Volleyball Player Kageyama Tobio, Soulmates, each person has a song, you hear your soulmates' song the closer you are to them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:20:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29810391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sporadic_obsession/pseuds/sporadic_obsession
Summary: Music is the force that drives the world forward.Hinata Shouyou hears a song through his teenage years that he doesn't know, but it's not until he's miles away from home that he understands what it all means.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 8
Kudos: 83
Collections: Kagehina Exchange





	Letters from the Sky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thalia_muse_of_comedy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thalia_muse_of_comedy/gifts).



> Hello!  
> This is my take on your second prompt, "any kind of soulmate au, but I particularly like hearing one’s soulmate’s “song” in their head when they are close to each other" – I hope I did it justice!  
> The song I chose for this was Civil Twilight's Letters from the Sky, which I think fits kagehina's journey very well, and Kageyama's dedication to Hinata through the years, even when they're apart.  
> I hope you like this!

_Music is the force that drives the world forward._

Shouyou has been hearing this particular saying from when he was but a little boy, and he never quite understood what it means. His mother had tried to explain it once, but Shouyou had been much too young - he hadn’t been able to listen with enough attention to retain any of her words. Everything she said about how music brings people together slipped by him, and he never quite bothered to try and learn better. Sure, music was nice - watching his parents dance to a beat only they could hear was strange, but fun; they would often bring him and, eventually, his younger sister into their dances and sing for them until their song was stuck in their own heads.

The first time he hears a song in his own head that he doesn’t recognize, he’s fourteen years old. He’s at his first—and last—volleyball tournament for junior high, with a team put together in a rush, but he’s okay with it. There’s excitement coursing through his veins, manifesting in the way he rushes from one point to the other and grins widely at his friends and teammates. As soon as he enters the gymnasium, though, there’s a song playing in his head, and he can’t for the life of him remember ever hearing it prior to that moment. It’s a nice enough tune, softer than he usually listens to, but he enjoys it nonetheless. He even ends up humming along to it as he moves around with his friends, preparing for what lies ahead of them, and by the time it’s time for his game, he’s memorized the melody.

The song stops when he focuses on volleyball.

When he loses the match, he thinks he hears the tune playing lowly from somewhere, but the bitter taste of loss is still engulfing him fully, and he can’t notice the way it rises in volume for a few brief seconds, nor does he pay it any mind as it fades away, the further he walks from the volleyball court. He doesn’t hear it as he cries on the stairs with his best friends behind him, doesn’t hear it as he finds a worthy opponent for the future, doesn’t notice the sweet tones of the melody as it settles like a constant buzz in his brain, and then drops completely. He remembers bits and pieces as he trains, and he hums it off-handedly as he cleans, and he doesn’t even think about why he knows a song he actually doesn’t know, and why it’s stuck inside his head like an old record player – looping endlessly, breaking off before Shouyou can make sense of what it means.

Now, if Shouyou was any other, he would probably notice the waythe music sounds clearer whenever he’s around a certain blue-eyed setter, especially after they meet again in Karasuno’s gym. If he wasn’t so focused on the goal ahead, he would’ve noticed how what started as a simple, soft melody—a few piano notes played over and over in his head—morphed with time, becoming more complete as he grew older. He would’ve heard the shift from piano to guitar, and would’ve found that singing along to a foreign song he’s never read the lyrics to is not exactly normal. His mother—bless her—tried to get him to understand, once, but Shouyou’s mind was closed off – he had volleyball to think about, after all. So, he continues to ignore the way it feels like there’s a broken record inside his chest that only plays properly whenever he’s around Kageyama Tobio.

He notices the absence of the music when he goes abroad, however.

His first night in Brazil, Shouyou feels like there’s something amiss – he checks his luggage to see if there’s anything missing from when he packed it, and he checks his phone for any forgotten reminders; he messages his sister to check if she’s okay, and he makes sure he’s not coming down with a fever. It’s not until he’s laying in bed—the brazilian warmth seeping through the walls and making it hard for him to fall asleep—that he notices that the song he’s been humming along to for years is completely gone. For the first time in what feels like forever, there’s no lingering melody; there’s no remains of a tune for him to grab a hold of and play with, nothing. His head’s completely empty, and even when he tries to recall the song he’s been hearing inside his own head for years, he can’t remember.

That’s when his mother’s words finally make sense.

_“Shou, music is the force that drives the world forward,” his mother said, a smile on her lips as her fingers combed through his hair, gently. “It’s music that shows us our love, sweetheart. That’s how I knew your papa and I were meant to be,” she told him, and Shouyou listened only half-heartedly. “That’s how you know who your soulmate is, my love. Their song will play in your head when you’re near them, and the closer you are, the louder and fuller it will be. If you ever find yourself hearing a song you’re sure you’ve never heard before, baby, don’t let go of it. Find who it belongs to, and you hold onto them forever, okay?”_

Shouyou understands now what it all means.

He still isn’t sure who the song belongs to, but he thinks he can take a wild guess. He thinks back on when he first heard it—on when the first few notes took place inside his brain and craved a space for themselves between his thoughts—and how the melody grew the more time he spent close to Kageyama. He thinks of Kageyama and his hidden smiles, the way his eyes brightened whenever they hit one of their freak quicks, the soft lull of his voice when they were alone. He thinks of the way Kageyama’s presence has always been marked by the same song playing over and over in his head, and wonders if Kageyama has heard his own song all along.

He wonders if Kageyama’s known all along that the song in his head belongs to him.

When the Rio Olympics come around, Shouyou considers his options – he could tell Kageyama what he knows, and find his reaction. He knows Kageyama can’t leave the Olympic village, but maybe they could find a way around it; Shouyou has been in Brazil long enough to know a few shortcuts and alleyways where they’d be able to hide for a while. He knows the moment Kageyama lands, not because he gets a text from him, but because the song comes back – not as loud or as full as before, no; it’s almost a skeleton of the tune he’s grown to love overtime, at this point. Still, in the same way it buzzed inside his brain back when they first met, Shouyou has the same few notes playing over and over in his head as he goes about his day. He gets so consumed by the soft, faded sound, that he forgets about his mission completely; he just wants to enjoy the music for as long as he’ll have it.

When Kageyama leaves, his head falls silent again, and Shouyou mourns the loss with a few quiet tears as he curls up in his bed.

Time passes, and despite the lack of a soundtrack to his day to day life, Shouyou continues to move forward. He trains harder than ever, jumps higher than he thought he could, and he works as much as he can so he can go back home – back to the sound that’s been haunting him through his teenage years; a sound he misses more than he ever anticipated he would. His physique shows the results of his training, and when he sets foot back in Japan, his smile shows the way his brain buzzes back the ghost of a song he hasn’t heard in way too long. He could go straight to Kageyama, could find him and let the universe bring them together through music—like his mother had always claimed it would—but there are things he still needs to do.

He’s gotten better, but there are things he can still improve. He joins the MSBY Black Jackals exactly for this. The team is young, with familiar faces and a welcoming aura, and it’s the perfect team for him – hard working, driven, and the direct rivals to the Schweiden Adlers, who Kageyama has been playing for since Shouyou left. When he sees him again, he wants to be the best version of himself – the version Kageyama deserves. So he continues to train, and he continues to fly, and he continues to grow.

The day of the long-awaited game, Shouyou hears the song clearer than ever.

 _“One of these days the sky's gonna break_ _  
_ _And everything will escape and I'll know.”_

Shouyou laughs with his teammates in the locker room, even though there’s nothing else he wants to do but to belt out the words that have been engraved in his heart all these years.

 _“One of these days the mountains_ _  
_ _Are gonna fall into the sea and they'll know…”_

He checks his phone one last time, grinning at the message left by Kageyama, wishing him good luck on his debut with the team.

 _“That you and I were made for this –_ _  
_ _I was made to taste your kiss._ _  
_ _We were made to never fall away…_ _  
_ _Never fall away.”_

Shouyou follows his teammates down the hall to the door leading them into the gym and hums the song under his breath.

 _“One of these days letters are gonna fall_ _  
_ _From the sky, telling us all_ _  
_ _To go free…”_

He lines up, waiting for his name to be called. When it is, he walks into the crowded gym with a beaming smile, the song inside his head overpowering the cheers from the audience as they greet him.

 _“But until that day I'll find a way_ _  
_ _To let everybody know that you're coming back –_ _  
_ _Mhmm, you're coming back for me.”_

Shouyou looks through the crowd for a moment, but his eyes don’t take long to find who he’s really looking for. He’s almost taken aback by the piercing blue eyes he hasn’t seen in so long, the way his hair is now parted down the middle instead of falling down his forehead. Kageyama is even taller than he was in high school, his body filled out with muscle from his years as a professional volleyball player, and Shouyou loves every single part of him, no matter how much he’s changed.

 _“'Cause even though you left me here,_ _  
_ _I have nothing left to fear._ _  
_ _Fears are only walls that hold me here…_ _  
_ _Hold me here!”_

The game starts, and the song continues to play inside his head like an old friend. He welcomes the sound, instead of shutting it out; it’s a constant reminder of who he’s up against, if the fact he can see Kageyama’s face whenever he follows the ball flying between them isn’t enough. He cheers when he scores, and grins when the rally goes on for a little too long. He’s tired and sweating, but he gives it his all, letting Kageyama see what he’s become.

He wonders if Kageyama has been shutting out his song. For a while, he thinks maybe he has – but then he catches Kageyama moving his lips to a tune only he can hear, and he smiles.

 _“One day soon I'll hold you like the sun_ _  
_ _Holds the moon…”_

It’s the last point, now. One more, the team chants; just one more. Shouyou flies higher than ever, and his palm meets the ball at the perfect spiking point.

 _“And we will hear those planes overhead_  
_And we won't have to be scared…_ _  
‘Cause we won’t have to be scared, oh!”_

The whistle breaks through the next line of the song, and the game is over. Shouyou is swarmed by his teammates, celebrating their win with loud yells and plenty of tears, and he lets them hold him for a while. His body feels jittery, the music inside his head playing loudly and complementing the sound of the cheers all around him. He cries, and he laughs, and his eyes open to find azure orbs already on him. He excuses himself, sliding between the sweaty bodies of the Black Jackals so he can finally—after all this time spent in the dark—follow the melody to its source, letting it light him up from the inside out.

_“You're coming back for me.”_

The words play over and over in his head until Shouyou stands—beaming with a grin so wide it might just split his lips apart—across from his soulmate. His cheeks hurt, and all his muscles scream for sweet relief and rest, but he holds himself upright. His head is tilted up though he feels as tall as a giant in this moment, and the net that separates him from Kageyama feels like nothing, compared to the distances they’ve had between them.

“You’re here,” Kageyama whispers, and Shouyou almost doesn’t hear him over how loud the song inside his head is playing now.

“Yup,” Shouyou replies, and a giggle bubbles past his lips as he reaches his hands out for Kageyama’s wrists. “Hey, _Bakageyama_ , what song am I?”

Shouyou watches the way Tobio’s eyes light up in glee. The blue seems to shift colors, like the receding waves under a full moon, and then he’s being tugged forward. He lets himself be pulled under the net and to the other side of it, hands flying to cup Tobio’s face as they both lean forward for a kiss. It’s messy, and imperfect, and not as magical as his mother had made it out to be when retelling the story of her first kiss with his father, but Shouyou doesn’t mind. Neither he nor Tobio are perfect; everything they’ve achieved, they’ve gotten through hard work and sacrifice. So, even if the universe has decided they’re the best fit for each other, Shouyou doesn’t mind knowing they’ll still have to work to be the best they can be.

Especially since, this time, they will do it together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to anyone who reads this, but especially to the lovely mods of this event who have been working so hard for all of us, and who opened up the treats option so we can continue to shower each other with love. Much love to you guys!


End file.
